Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Walking Stick Insects as Pets

A few years ago my husband, daughter, and I, attended an Odd and Unusual Action (in Innsfail, Alberta) in which exotic livestock and pets are sold.  We came home with 3 jars of Northern Walking Stick insects, with 3 in each jar for a total of 9 new pet bugs.  After almost three years, we had more than 300 of the little creatures. 

Walking stick insects are great pets for people with limited space (we kept ours in a 10 gallon tank), or who have allergies to furry pets, or who want a cheap and easy pet.

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In the summer we fed our pet insects leaves off our apple trees, in the winter we fed them leaves of romaine lettuce (other lettuce does not have enough nutrition).  We only had two bad experiences - once when we forgot to wash the store bought leaves and all the adults died, however a few weeks later we notice little ones in the tank, so clearly there were some unhatched eggs.  The other bad experience was when the mesh lid was not shut tight enough and a few insects escaped.  We found them on the walls and curtains for the following few days.

In addition to food they also require a water source, such as a wet sponge or damp soil.  We misted the tank several times a day.  In the picture you can see a larger adult on an apple leaf and a smaller adult on a stick.  They do require sticks so they can shed their skin.

Read more about Care for Walking Stick Insects

And another on Care of Walking Stick Insects

Read more about Cheap and Easy Pets


* Please Note in most areas it is illegal to set any unwanted walking stick insects loose into the wild.  If you have found you have more than you can care for you must dispose of them, by selling them, freezing them, or feeding them to lizards.

11 comments:

  1. well, nice post to read. honestly, taking walking stick insects as pets never come across my mind. i don't know, to me it's weird. some people in my country keeping this insect to earn some money. yes, they grown them up and then sell them as the food of birds.

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  2. Nice post. Your writing style is very beautiful and your article is very attractive. You share a very useful information that is very useful for a lot peoples and it will also help for many people. Keep writing. Thanks for sharing. Golf Shirt

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  3. Me too. Things like this don't cross my mind.

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  4. wow:) a large walking stick nice:) gonna tweet this.


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  5. That is some inspirational stuff. Never knew that opinions could be this varied. Thanks for all the enthusiasm to offer such helpful information here.
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  6. Really amezing photography.... great one....

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  7. Walking sticks are definitely an original choice. Can you bond with them the way you can bond with cats or rabbits? Are they dangerous in some way?
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  8. I can't see clearly what is that insect, but I learn a lot to your information. i don't have a lot knowledge about insects. This is interesting article.

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  10. Nice. Keep walking stick as pets? I just couldn't believe they can be co nice as pets. Anyway, great post from you.

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  11. Do you still have these walking sticks?
    I keep trying to find some without much success.

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